Lifting the Lid Inside the Commons

This is the House of Commons as you've never seen it before.

Locking!

With unprecedented access,

we've been filming behind the scenes for a year.

That's where our laws are set.

These are the people that we're run by.

It's been a year of round-the-clock plotting and high drama.

CHEERING

There are people sitting next to me who've been in the House for decades,

saying, "I've never seen anything like it."

THUDDING

We'll have to repair that later.

All played out in the ancient Palace of Westminster

-that's in danger of collapse.

-The last thing you want to see

is the government building's fall apart,

cos that means your government's falling apart.

In this first episode, two novice MPs

seek to navigate the bewildering codes and customs of the Commons.

CHEERING AND LAUGHTER

The behaviour in there is just disgusting!

I mean, really embarrassingly juvenile.

And we follow the Commons most powerful official

who runs the whole place.

My goodness! That's invigorating!

His job is to square the age-old parliamentary traditions

with the demands of a modern democracy.

This place is about hard politics,

but it's also about people and emotions.

It's spring 2014,

and the biggest day of the year in the Commons' calendar - Budget Day.

Inside the Chamber, the security sniffer dogs

are the first to do their parliamentary duty.

The eyes to the right, the nose to the floor.

Only MPs are allowed to sit on the Commons' green benches,

yet they provide 427 seats and there are 650 MPs.

So the Principal Doorkeeper, Robin Fell, and his team

are ready for MPs to arrive early for an unlikely procedure...

to reserve their seat.

Apart from the conventions of, obviously,

the Prime Minister and the Cabinet on the government front bench,

everybody else is in the melting pot.

So if they want to be certain that they have their preferred seat,

be here when the doors open at eight o'clock,

put the prayer card in, turn up for prayers and it's yours for the day.

Good morning.

Charlotte Leslie was elected a Conservative MP in the 2010 election.

She's still getting used to the rituals of the house,

like the fact that for over four centuries

the Commons' day begins with morning prayers.

We actually turn to the back and we all turn to face the wall

when we do one bit of prayers, because I think the story goes

that at the time when to be a Catholic was a little bit sensitive,

it was courtesy not to let people see that you were a Catholic

-and you were doing the crossing bit.

-Oh, right.

But morning prayers is now also a seat-booking system.

Theoretically, members respect the fact that that is your seat being booked for the whole of the day

provided you're here for three-minute prayers

when the Speaker arrives.

If you're not here for prayers and your prayer card is in,

then one of the member officers of the House

will take the card out and rip it up.

-Macleod? WOMAN:

-Yep.

-Baldwin?

-Uh-huh.

-Newton?

-Yep.

-Ellis?

-Yep.

-Gibb?

-Yep.

-Harrington?

Robert Halfon, who was born with cerebral palsy,

is another Tory newcomer from 2010.

I put my prayer card right in the middle at the back there.

It's where I usually sit, there's a lot of legroom,

and I've tried to bag that place since I got in.

On days like this, it's a bit like the Germans on the beaches putting their towels on the deckchairs,

because you have to rush in, you have to be here early to get your card,

but I've kind of made that place my home.

-I will sit at the back, make a quick getaway.

-So you can shout at 'em?

Yeah, take a book along in case you get bored as well.

-LAUGHTER

-Right.

On this showpiece day for the government,

the greatest crush for seats is on the Tory side.

And Labour's veteran heckler, Dennis Skinner, is unimpressed.

Most of 'em come in on the high days like the Budget.

I come in every day and have done for 40-odd year.

I remember when people used to wear morning coats and top hats

and goodness knows what else.

-And I don't mean the 19th century, I mean the 20th century.

-Really?

And all that sort of glamour seems to have gone now. Such a shame.

What are you wearing on your head for this special occasion?

Ah, well, isn't that the great cause of much...speculation.

My goodness! Not much choice left, is there?

It's 8.30 and there's not a spot.

-There's one at the back there, Toby.

-There is, there is

There we go, it's official, I have my space.

And as long as I turn up to prayers, it's mine!

There's one backbench MP

who doesn't need to worry about his prayer card, Sir Peter Tapsell,

the longest serving member who's known as the Father of the House.

By custom, Sir Peter has his own special seat,

but still insists on putting in a prayer card.

The reason I put it in is because I don't want the embarrassment

of turning somebody out of their seat

who may not know the convention in a crowded House.

Particularly if it was a lady, it would be quite a difficult thing to do.

And the problem would arise, do I sit on her knee or does she sit on mine?

Sarah Champion, the Labour MP for Rotherham,

cuts a rather different figure from the old boys of the Commons.

She won a by-election in 2012,

when her Labour predecessor resigned

and was later jailed for expenses fraud.

When I got elected...in my by-election,

I was told that I had "unparliamentary" hair.

SHE LAUGHS

I was meant to do something about it,

but I still don't know what "unparliamentary" hair is or what I'm meant to do.

Right, I need a wee.

SHE SIGHS Let's go.

Sarah Champion used to run a children's hospice.

She's one of only 148 female MPs.

The other 502 are men.

Every day, particularly when it's a sunny day like this,

when I walk in, I go, "Oh, my God!

"They're going to rumble that it's me rather than a proper MP coming in."

I hope I never get over it, though.

And she refuses to join the Budget Day scramble to bag a seat in the Chamber.

What's the point of being there at seven in the morning?

I can see if it's a shoe sale,

but not to listen to a load of old men screaming at each other.

Final copies of the Budget in plain packaging

arrive at the Chancellor's official residence in Downing Street.

The contents are market sensitive,

so tight secrecy is maintained until after George Osborne's speech.

Another envelope of Budget secrets

is brought to the Commons for the Deputy Speaker.

By tradition, he chairs the Budget debate,

but to avoid leaks he won't open it till he's in the Chamber.

For you, the sealed envelope from the Treasury.

-Oh, my word! Very tempting, isn't it? But we won't.

-SHE LAUGHS

Let me put this down. Let's put it on here.

There's cards on every part of the government benches,

there's not a spare place!

Today will be the real starting gun for the general election,

so I think that's also going to add to the intensity.

So we've just got to be aware of the heat that will be in there.

It's two hours till the Chancellor speaks.

And in the bowels of the Commons

there's a mass delivery of strictly embargoed copies of all the Budget measures.

MPs won't be able to collect them till the Chancellor has sat down.

Mostly, people will want the red book,

the Budget 2014 in all its glory,

not released for another hour and a quarter at least.

-All set? Good.

-Hi.

-Hi, Nicky.

-Danny?

-Hey, George, you all right?

-Hi.

-Paul.

-Is the speech in the box?

-Speech is in the box, we're ready to go.

-When you go out there, there are a lot of cameras.

-Yes.

-If you've not done it before.

We've got a good Budget, so we're going to go out there and sell it.

And thanks for all your help in putting it together.

HUBBUB

I always try to look smart, but today I've got to be at my best.

We know parliament's a theatre,

politicians are all budding thespians,

they all want to be on that stage and they all want to play their part.

And there is no bigger day for the stage than today.

CHEERING

I can't fit in! So, apparently, we can sit upstairs.

Sarah Champion is directed to a place in the gods

as she doesn't have a prayer of finding a seat in the Chamber.

How exciting. I've never been actually...

The Upper Gallery is where she can watch but can't speak.

-Hello.

-Hiya.

-How do I get in?

-To get in, into there?

-Yeah.

-OK, come with me.

Here, she'll catch the first glimpses of what the government

and the opposition regard as the key to the general election.

-Wrong bit.

-As Bill Clinton's spin doctor once put it,

"It's the economy, stupid."

Exciting.

-Right.

-Right.

-MAN:

-The Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Right Honourable George Osborne.

CHEERING

Built on the site of William the Conqueror's first palace,

the "mother of parliaments" is where the laws that affect all our lives are made.

Re-built in Victorian times as a gothic fantasy palace,

it's an eight acre jumble of buildings and courtyards.

With 100 staircases, over 1,000 rooms and three miles of passages...

..it's a very easy place to get lost in,

even for long serving MPs like Winston Churchill's grandson.

It's an extraordinary place.

I found somewhere the other day

I never even knew existed in the House of Commons.

-And...

-And you've been here 30 years?

-And I've been here 30 years.

-What was that? What did you find?

-It was a bar.

-A bar?!

It's such a rabbit warren of a place.

I mean, I still, from time to time

find myself not knowing and having to ask instructions or directions.

When you stand in Member's Lobby and you see the statue of Churchill

and you see the broken arch that is what remains

after the Chamber was bombed in the Second World War,

you do feel a real sense of history in this place.

It's a sort of mixture. It looks half like a museum,

half like a church, half like a school.

Many MPs share David Cameron's view,

they call the Commons...Hogwarts.

And if there is a Dumbledore, he's the Commons' top official,

the Clerk of the House, Sir Robert Rogers.

-Right, see you later, darling.

-Yep.

Right.

The back door of his official residence in Parliament Street

provides Sir Robert with a short commute through his domain.

Morning.

I suppose I have quite an odd job in some ways.

Morning! I think most of my predecessors

back across the centuries would recognise one half,

which is being the principal constitutional advisor to the House,

but combined with that is a job as Chief Executive of the House of Commons Service of 2,000 people.

BIG BEN CHIMES

In the Chamber each day I wear a court coat, black trousers,

black waistcoat, stick-up collar and white bow tie,

and I wear a barrister's bob wig and a silk gown.

It's very bling and dressing up, which is quite amusing in a way,

but I think there is a serious side to it

and that is that the formality that we have,

the way the doorkeepers dress, the way that the Chamber is laid out,

provide a rather dignified framework within which the rough and tumble of politics takes place.

Like Sir Robert, the Principal Doorkeeper, Robin Fell,

has worked here for over 40 years.

And they share a delight in customs from the past.

Morning, Robin.

Until recently, snuff was provided free to members.

-My goodness! That's invigorating!

-Yes, but as I say,

as a conscious effort, I don't have what I refer to as weapons-grade snuff because...

-It's still pretty good stuff!

-Oh, yes. Yeah.

Robin Fell runs a team of doorkeepers who wear formal dress.

They're the Commons' internal security staff

trained in police restraint techniques.

They're also messengers who see themselves

as the eyes and ears of the Commons.

That is a doorkeeper's badge.

That one's dated 1837.

The chain is pure gold, the badge is silver gilded over.

And the little dangly at the bottom, that is pure gold.

The winged messenger of the gods.

Not, of course, saying that we deliver messages to gods.

-Members of parliament.

-HE CHUCKLES

In his role as Chief Executive,

Sir Robert manages a team of workers

from painters to plumbers

and cleaners to clock makers.

Sir Robert's central problem is how to run a 21st-century parliament

in a mock gothic palace that is falling apart at the seams.

We're trying to deal with the problems as they come up.

Now, see up there, that's an example of what I was talking about.

And that's where we've got water coming in.

And you can see the damage there to the stonework,

which is going to take a terrific amount of work.

And you can see the damage too on that wonderful complex window over to the right.

And there are a couple of dozen places where water is simply coming

in through the roof up and down the Palace.

We're trying to run a modern parliament in a Victorian building.

BIG BEN CHIMES

The punchy Tory, Charlotte Leslie, sees herself as a new breed of MP.

I've always been angry.

The reason I'm in politics is I get angry about injustice

and the way things are and I want to change it.

But sometimes, especially in politics, you can't and it's immensely frustrating,

and you do feel like smashing a brick wall down.

Good. Big shots.

I was a very naughty kid and my mum took me boxing.

And I didn't end up in a gang, but I did end up in parliament.

A former lifeguard and journalist,

Charlotte Leslie narrowly won her Bristol seat from Labour in 2010.

I hadn't had any sleep for something like 40 hours.

And then after a day of doing media,

I finally went to bed at about 11 o'clock the next night.

And I woke up and I thought, "Good lord! I'm an MP!"

Arriving in the Commons is a daunting experience for new MPs.

It feels like a very intimidating place, I think.

It feels like a club.

I was in my first parliamentary Labour Party meeting with my brother

and I sort of saw him across the crowded room

and I thought it's... "Who'd have thought it?"

I remember when I first came here, opening the door to somebody,

cos that's the way you are, you open a door,

and people just trooped through as if that was my job.

And not one of them said, "Ta."

You know what I mean? "Thanks very much."

The Commons retains the look and feel of a Victorian gentleman's club

and at its heart is the legendary Members' Tea Room,

run by Gladys Dixon who often sings as she works.

# Amazing Grace

# How sweet the sound

# And saved... #

She opens up the tea room at seven in the morning

as it actually serves MPs cut price breakfast, lunch,

tea, supper and drinks.

Gladys is just a wonderful figure.

She's a force of nature. She's got a cherry word for everyone,

she never doesn't have a smile on her face.

She's just the most adorable woman

and every time I see her I feel better.

MPs regard the tea room as their inner sanctum,

where they can gossip and plot in total privacy

in what they call their "holy of holies".

Here is for Conservatives...and officers from the House.

Conservatives tend to stay all on this side.

And this is Liberal.

Here is Northern Ireland...table.

And when you come on this side, it's all for Labour.

When I first came here, I sat in the wrong place

and somebody said, "That's where Labour sit."

I thought, "Well, it's a free table." It's all these old traditions.

You know, you go in a coffee shop and you sit where you want, don't you?

The Commons has opened its own coffee shop

in a glistening annexe called Portcullis House.

But the new building hasn't put an end to some MPs' old ways.

It's sort of playground stuff,

so if they see any weakness, whether it's about your relationships,

the way you look, something that's happened to you in the past,

you'll hear it. And it's little sort of...

-There's your tea, Sarah.

-Thank you very much.

Little snide comments...just designed to get under the radar

and put someone off their game.

It's really... It's not nice.

A central role of MPs

is to seek to hold the government of the day to account.

In the month after the Budget,

MPs will be voting on one of the coalition's

most controversial projects - HS2 -

the high-speed rail link from London to the north.

But as both front benches support the bill,

any member proposing to rebel will have to defy their party whips,

the shadowy groups of MPs in charge of discipline.

The Tory with the Boris-lookalike hair, Michael Fabricant,

is one MP who plans to vote against the official party line.

I don't want to be on the "dark side," as the whips call it,

and be seen as some sort of a non-team player,

but just occasionally, when you think the government's got it badly wrong,

you have to make a stand. And this is what I'm doing over HS2.

Constituents who live on the proposed HS2 route

have come to the Commons to lobby their MPs.

-Anyway, fantastic.

-Every MP has to balance

the conflicting pressures of party, constituency and conscience.

-Well done for the things you've done on HS2.

-Thank you very much.

-I think it's very good the position you've taken.

-Thank you very much.

-Labour's Sarah Champion will be voting

-with

-the government.

It's a lot easier for me because, to be honest, the area that benefits the most is Yorkshire.

So for my constituents, there are a few that are going to be impacted on it

and with them, I went and talked to them and spoke to them and explained my position.

But if it was going straight through the middle of my patch,

I can see why you'd want to make a big stink about it.

The debate is likely to run late

and the whips have told their MPs to stay till the end to be present for the vote.

I actually have an emergency duvet in my office for really late nights.

At 11pm, after a five-hour debate,

the Speaker, John Bercow, puts the bill to the House.

The MPs shouts of "aye" or "no"

trigger a vote known as a "division".

SHOUTING

-MAN:

-Division!

-MAN 2:

-Division!

BELL

Once the bell rings, MPs have eight minutes

to choose the "yes" or "no" lobby before the doors are locked.

Locking!

As MPs come into the voting lobbies,

they're counted by sharp-eyed whips who act as tellers.

All MPs from the humblest to the grandest

must join the scrum.

The whole system of the voting lobby is an extraordinary institution,

because it's a place you walk through

and it's a place where ministers, leaders, MPs have conversations.

It's partly an opportunity for people to talk business, to talk politics.

Just 41 MPs are prepared to vote against the bill

in defiance of their party whips.

A thumping majority vote for the bill,

but a number of MPs with doubts about HS2

told us privately they saw no point in putting themselves in the black books of the whips

as the result was a foregone conclusion.

If you want to make a point, you only have so many rebellions.

With each rebellion the currency of your rebellion goes down.

So you do have to think about where you want to use your chips, if you like.

So it's important to be able to keep the powder dry

and be someone that if you do rebel, people say, "Oh, so-and-so's rebelled!"

"We might need to have a rethink about that."

The voting has taken over half an hour

and it's close to midnight when MPs can finally make their getaway.

On occasions where we've got very large numbers going through one lobby

it's like the Black Hole of Calcutta.

And when you've got several votes following each other,

you're spending a lot of time hanging about waiting for the next vote.

So there's an enormous challenge here

to bring parliament into the 21st century.

We should have a smart card and so long as we're on the premises,

we should be able to vote sensibly, like everyone else would think we would do.

MPs come in all shapes and sizes and they're constantly on the move,

from committee meetings to party briefings

and dealing with constituents.

New members find it hard to discover how best to work the system.

All MPs suffer from chronic job insecurity,

especially those like Charlotte Leslie with marginal seats

for whom the next election could be curtains.

One way of showing her constituents she's working hard for them

is if she can get called to speak at the highest profile Commons event,

Prime Minister's Questions.

We have got here the order paper.

And this is what MPs will wave if they're feeling particularly incensed about something,

but its much more useful purpose is that it's got the summary agenda for today.

She wants to get government support for a new football stadium for Bristol Rovers.

It's probably not going to make national headlines,

but it might make local headlines.

But there's a great deal of competition among MPs

to be called at Prime Minister's Question time,

so Tracy Jessop, a Commons clerk, organises a selection system

as nearly 300 back benchers apply most weeks.

Can I get one Questions for the Prime Minister? Thank you very much.

-One of these blue forms there.

-Have you got a pen?

Yes. There you go.

Like filling in a lottery card,

Charlotte Leslie has to put in an application form.

-Lovely. Thank you very much.

-Thank you.

-Thanks a lot.

-Thank you.

Tracy Jessop puts Charlotte Leslie's name,

along with all the other MPs who've applied, into a computerised ballot.

The 15 Members whose names come up

are the only ones guaranteed to be called at the following week's PMQs.

It literally is completely random,

it doesn't know what party people are from, it's not seeking to achieve party balance.

People certainly have theories about luck,

some members believe that if they come into the office to table their orals,

especially their PMQ, that they're more likely to come out

than if they e-table it via our electronic system.

While the Tory, Charlotte Leslie, is seeking a platform at Prime Minister's Questions,

Labour's Sarah Champion wants to use parliament to have a real impact

on a scandal that's been hitting the headlines.

Child sexual exploitation is massive and is national,

but I've now been given a voice and I think it would be so negligent of me

not to use that voice and shout really loudly.

I want to find ways to strengthen the law,

so it's become a bit of a crusade.

I've been told it's impossible for an opposition back bencher to change the law.

I'd rather try and fail than do nothing,

because for too long people have been doing nothing

and that's why this abuse has been going on.

First she has to find her way from glossy Portcullis House

to the Commons' office that deals with government bills.

-Where do we go to the Public Bill Office?

-If you come with me.

-Thank you

Sarah Champion wants to amend the government's Justice Bill.

At present somebody trying to groom a child for sex must make contact twice before it's an offence.

She wants prosecution after just one contact.

She seeks advice from a Commons clerk, Georgie Holmes-Skelton.

Right, I need help. GEORGIE LAUGHS

-I don't know if we can shoehorn these in?

-Sure, yeah.

But if we can, it would be phenomenal to try.

My reading... I've gone through what you're trying to do here,

so in terms of this bill, new clauses like this, I think, are entirely reasonable.

-Yay!

-I think that's absolutely fine.

The third one is slightly different.

-I don't know the language.

-It isn't easy.

I mean, this bill is particularly technical in some bits of it.

-It's just so impenetrable some of it.

-I spend most of my days reading bits of legislation

-and clause one, I looked at it and I went, "I've just got no idea."

-It's not only me, then?

-No, no.

BOTH LAUGH

-See ya.

-See you.

Learning to understand parliamentees comes with the territory of being a new MP.

Sarah Champion isn't just struggling with procedural language,

but with an institution that was designed for gentlemen members of yesteryear.

CHARLES HUMS

Charles Kennedy was the baby of the house

when he was first elected 30 years ago age 23.

CHARLES HUMS

-How are you today?

-Very good, sir. Yes, very good.

Good, good.

-Looking forward to the recess?

-Not half.

Not half. BOTH LAUGH

You may say that, I couldn't possibly comment.

Every trip around the Commons is still something of a

voyage of discovery for the former Lib Dem leader.

That is a cigar lighter!

All these years, I've been walking past this

and I've never really paid much attention to it at all.

If that's the lighter, it must have been a hell of a size of cigar.

Must have had Churchill in mind, eh?

And then the Member's Cloakroom,

which pretty much lives up to its name, it's the cloakroom for the members.

I suppose the only idiosyncratic feature

are these pink-ish ribbons.

And, would you believe, this is for honourable and right honourable members,

once they've hung their coats to hang their swords.

There you are.

I have to say, I've never seen one of them used in all the decades I've been here,

but if you wanted to avail yourself of the opportunity, this is the place to come.

Did you spot this here? Look, just there.

-What?

-Just...

-Oh!

CHARLES LAUGHS

Now, look at that. This is the place where you say something

and the minute you say it, it's contradicted.

But, I suppose, that's what the "mother of parliaments" is supposed to be about.

Somebody has actually got...a wooden sword attached to their tassel.

That doesn't give anything away.

Well, I wonder, I wonder, I wonder,

because I don't know who the MP for that particular constituency is.

Well, there you are, there's always a first for everything and we didn't make that up.

Morning...Robert.

Each morning Robert Rogers and other Commons' top brass

meet the Speaker, John Bercow, in his grand office.

CHATTER

Sir Robert claims that the Commons' biggest problem is how the old should live with the new.

And that, despite appearances, he welcomes the challenge of change.

I may wear 18th-century clothes,

that doesn't give me an 18th-century mind. HE LAUGHS

Sir Robert sees himself as a thoroughly modern man.

He's determined to cut down the Commons' paper mountain.

The House produces 80 million printed pages a year,

including committee reports, draft bills

and the daily Hansard record of every word spoken in the Chamber.

I'm certainly not frightened of new technology.

I mean, new technology is at our disposal.

Have you got a Hansard?

Each day's Hansard report includes many pages of written answers by ministers to MPs' questions,

but Sir Robert's reform has brought an end to the traditional system.

That's the debate and Question Time and those are the written answers.

And after...September,

all of those will be done electronically and put online.

It'll save us about £800,000 a year...recurring,

as well as saving a good few trees as well.

I've been here four years...four years in a couple of months' time

and I haven't seen an enormous digitalisation of the Commons in that time.

I mean, to be honest, it really is very backwards,

we've only just got Wi-Fi in our offices.

MPs constantly complain about the Commons' IT system,

but Sir Robert has bigger headaches.

He's concerned that the building itself is falling apart.

As Clerk of the Commons, Sir Robert is the legal owner of Big Ben.

It's due for its five year check-up,

which will be a barometer for the state of the whole House.

We'll be having a team of abseilers abseiling down in front of the dials.

They'll clean the dials on the outside

and they'll be doing a condition report of the paint,

the glazing, all the glasswork,

but especially what condition the centre of the hands are.

The abseilers attach ropes to anchor points in the belfry at the top of Big Ben.

They plan to lower themselves down

to clean the clock and assess its state of repair.

The Palace specialist clock makers

disconnect the four pairs of clock hands.

-Now.

-OK?

The hands are so well balanced, you can actually see that he's just doing it one handed.

So you're moving a 14ft minute hand,

a 9ft long hour hand just with one hand on the inside.

-What time's that?

-12.

-Excellent

From 60 metres above the ground

the abseilers will have to lower themselves past 300 panes of glass covering the clock face.

-Is he strapped to it?

-LAUGHTER

From down the bottom it looks like it's pristine,

from up here you can see that there is paintwork flaking away, the gold leafing's come off,

and the glass is a lot dirtier than it looks down here.

If you could just give us a good close-up shot

-of the bottom of the dial where the black paint's coming off.

-Yeah, no problem at all.

-We'll get that in for you.

-Wow!

That's brilliant. Right above your left hand there.

Yeah, just above Steve's hand where it is now, there.

-There?

-Yeah. Is that blowing is it?

It's blowing in all directions there.

What they've spotted is that the paint's flaking off

and the stone underneath's getting powdery,

which means that it's going to get more porous and water's going to get in.

So it'll never get better, it's just going to get worse again.

It's the clock face of England, really.

This is where our parliament are.

That's where our laws are set. These are the people that we're run by.

Unless they're done soon, repairs to the world's most iconic clock

could run into many millions of pounds.

The Palace of Westminster often looks like one great building site.

And the authorities have to decide how much longer

they can make do and mend the old Victorian building to support a modern parliament.

Successive generations have adapted the disused giant chimney

above Central Lobby in the Commons to fresh use.

We've utilised the original chimneys

to run various types of cabling down throughout the building

after there was no longer the requirement to use the fireplaces and so forth.

Looking up and seeing where all the smoke and soot from all the chimneys came

and then suddenly we turn round here and we've got fibre optics.

That's amazing.

Portcullis House Comms Room to Palace of Westminster 3rd floor, New Frame Room.

Just as well you've got them labelled.

The people who maintain the estate are absolute geniuses.

They manage in the most challenging of circumstances

to keep the show up and running,

but we can't very long put off

some really serious restoration and renewal.

In the modern world of Portcullis House,

it's a big day for Sarah Champion.

I need my lunch.

For three weeks, she's been attending committee meetings

to scrutinise the government's Criminal Justice and Courts Bill.

I think in about two hours,

I might change the law to protect children better.

Which is pretty cool, isn't it?

You don't do that every day on a Thursday.

BOTH LAUGH

Today, she'll be in the spotlight

to make the case for her amendments to the bill.

The details of the bill are being scrutinised line by line

by a cross-party committee of MPs, including the Justice Minister, Jeremy Wright.

After 30 hours in committee,

Sarah Champion finally gets her turn.

Thank you, Mr Causeby,

it's a great pleasure to serve under your chairmanship once again.

She has to persuade the committee that her amendment,

which will make it harder for child groomers to escape justice, will protect children.

New Clause 9 would mean that the perpetrator would only have to make one contact to be guilty.

Minister, please don't let this committee sit and wait.

-Minister?

-Can I start by thanking her more generally

for the work that she has done.

I think she's made a very powerful argument.

I do have some reservations.

She now faces a dilemma.

The minister won't accept her amendment in the way she's worded it.

If it goes to a vote, she'll probably lose.

So she has to decide whether to make a tactical withdrawal,

in the hope that the government will include their own version of it in the bill.

I thank the minister very much

for taking seriously the new clause that's put in front.

I will withdraw the new clause,

but I would like to have the opportunity if I could come and discuss it further

if he needs additional information. Thank you.

-Is it the committee's pleasure that the new clause be withdrawn?

-Aye.

-Aye.

-The amendment by leave withdrawn.

Sarah Champion won't get her amendment in today,

but she still has a chance to convince the government of her idea

in the hope that they'll include a similar clause at a later stage.

I'm knackered.

I would have loved the minister to say, "Yes, we'll adopt them and put them straight into the bill,"

but that was never going to happen cos I'm on the opposition.

What I'm really, really, really hoping for

is that when it comes back to the Chamber, my new clause will be in there.

And if they call it theirs, you know, whatever.

It's about making change, it's not about ego.

SHE LAUGHS

It may be many weeks before she finds out

whether all her months of hard work have paid off.

For backbench MPs like Sarah Champion and Charlotte Leslie,

there's one day each week when they get a chance of challenging the government at the very top,

Prime Minister's Question Time.

Every Wednesday, the Prime Minister

sets off from Downing Street to his office in the Commons.

He clutches his file known as the "plastic fantastic,"

with Post-it notes marking subjects he thinks will come up.

There isn't a Wednesday that you don't feel total fear

and trepidation about what is about to happen.

Normally, I'm sitting here preparing for Prime Minister's Questions

and about five minutes beforehand you think,

you know, "Have I got to do this again?!"

And I think Prime Ministers have always felt that.

If PMQs is a nervous ordeal for the Prime Minister,

it's no less so for the other key actor in the drama,

the Leader of the Opposition.

Once you're in it, you forget about the nerves,

and it's try and do the best job you can.

The anticipation, I find, is worse than the reality.

I've met no Leader of the Opposition or Prime Minister

that looked forward to Prime Minister's Questions.

When I took over this job, David Cameron said,

"You're not going to find yourself looking forward to it."

William Hague has said the same to me. Tony Blair has said the same to me.

Ed Miliband!

CHEERING AND JEERING

Mr Speaker, can he tell us

whether the number of people having to wait more than the guaranteed two months for cancer treatment

-has got better or worse?

-Hear, hear!

-There are 7,000 more doctors!

-Hear, hear!

-There are 4,000 more nurses!

-Hear, hear!

-There's over 1,000 more midwives!

-Hear, hear!

The NHS is getting worse on his watch

-and there's only one person to blame and it's him!

-Hear!

Honestly, if he can't do better than that even on the NHS,

he really is in trouble.

HUBBUB

Now, two party leaders just exchange personal insults

across the dispatch boxes.

My toes curl when I hear it.

It would have been inconceivable 25 years ago,

that party leaders would address each other like that across the floor of the House.

The behaviour in there is just disgusting.

I mean, really embarrassingly juvenile, screaming.

And the fact that it's men in their 50s and 60s doing it, it's just distasteful.

Prime Minister's Questions is the theatre of politics,

and that's quite right, it can't all be done in dusty committee rooms.

When important issues are being discussed

where you think your opponents are wrong

and what they would do would be damaging to the nation's interest,

you have to do it with some passion and some verve.

Although unmanned fixed cameras televise PMQs,

there are very severe restrictions on what the public is shown.

HUBBUB

But we were given access for the first time

to film on the floor of the House.

Will you find a safe place for this camera crew,

so that he can film without getting in our way?

As far as I can see, the camera crew

is certainly not interfering with the business of the House

and everybody is safe.

It's Wednesday the 14th of May.

Speaker!

And the first act of the day's political theatre

is the Speaker's procession.

Hats off, strangers!

I think that...clump, clump, clump and the acoustics in here,

you get a natural silence.

I'm talking in a whisper out of reverence already.

Behind the ceremonial scenes, party strategists from the government and opposition

are at work as Commons choreographers.

Both sides are plotting how to turn the day's PMQs to their advantage.

Before each PMQ, if we either have a question or want to bob,

we have like a team strategy meeting,

because PMQs are different from any other questions,

cos we try and have an orchestrated team approach to it.

I mean, more than anything else, it's our only chance to hold the Prime Minister accountable.

So if we all go off on different tangents, it's a bit chaotic,

so I think it's more about making it focused, strategic, on target,

giving him as much of a bashing as we can, basically. SHE LAUGHS

We don't need to be told to cheer Ed when he stands up,

we don't need to be told to jeer or to make fun of Cameron

or some of his more loyal, obsequious backbenchers,

we just do that because we're Labour MPs.

Soon it will be time for the "bobbing" to begin.

It means MPs, who've not been lucky in the computerised ballot,

bob up and down in the hope of catching the eye of the Speaker, John Bercow.

He'll alternate bobbers with questioners from the ballot.

The Conservative MP Andrew Percy bobs most weeks

to try to question the PM on constituency matters.

I have a record of failure when it comes to the PMQs ballot.

Whenever I've applied, I've never been called out.

I mean, I don't try every week,

so I have to rely on the free hits instead,

which are the ones that the Speaker calls on the day itself.

But he knows that if he gets what's called a free hit,

there'll be pressure to push the national party political line.

Every week, David Cameron's Parliamentary Private Secretary,

Gavin Williamson,

circulates an e-mail to members encouraging helpful questions.

Ahead of PMQs we get an e-mail, it's just come through at 11:06,

and these are some suggested topics that would be helpful,

the Prime Minister would be happy to receive a question on.

So which of these...this is

an e-mail from the Prime Minister's Parliamentary Private Secretary

-suggesting questions that you as Conservative MPs can....

-Exactly.

So, let's see what we've got today.

So, suggested free hits are we've got the OECD has joined the IMF

in forecasting that the UK will have the fastest growing economy

in the developed world. So, obviously the question will be,

"Does the Prime Minister agree this proves our long-term economic plan is working?"

Questions suggesting we talk about being pro-business, being pro-jobs.

So, what they want is, "Does the Prime Minister agree with me

"that our long-term economic plan..." There's that phrase again.

"..is giving more people who want to work hard

"the security of a regular pay packet?"

-Fine, how are you?

-Really well, thanks.

The big beasts of the Commons jungle arrive just before noon.

Sometimes, our lot cheer Ed Miliband when he walks in

and nothing could be worse for the Labour Party

to have the Conservatives giving him a big cheer.

And they do the same to us, of course.

CHEERING

Within minutes, there's a whole lot of bobbing going on.

And some on the Tory benches follow the suggested script.

Stevenage continues to lead the economic recovery, and unemployment

figures today show our long-term economic plan is working.

ALL: Yes!

My honourable friend is right.

In Stevenage, unemployment has fallen by 24% over the last year

which shows that our long-term economic plan is working.

Does the Prime Minister agree that the building of vital roads,

like the A5-M1 link, Dunstable Northern Bypass,

will create even more jobs, and that continued infrastructure

investment like this is a key part of our long-term economic plan?

It's always so obvious when somebody's just been handed,

you know, "Read this out," and it's pathetic.

I mean, I just can't understand how anybody wants to get elected

to a parliament, to any representative body,

but least of all to the House of Commons,

and then just to be handed out a couple of sentences

written by somebody else and say, "Read this out."

"Doesn't the Prime Minister agree he's doing a great job this week

"and will do an even better one next week." What is the point?

In politics, you've got to try and have a clear message.

And, my team, there are some messages we want to get across.

We want to explain we've got a long-term economic plan,

we want to explain that we're on the side of people who work hard,

and if you're saying it's appalling that Tory MPs should possibly

use any of these phrases, I would say politics is about the team

putting across a team message, and so people shouldn't be

too worried about that happening in Prime Minister's Questions.

It's three months since Sarah Champion sought to persuade

the government to include her amendment designed to deter

child molesters in its Justice Bill.

And she's been tipped the wink to expect good news

when the government's amendments are published today.

This place just relies on gossip and rumour, so you know,

there isn't a timetable and literally it was a minister pulling me out

of the chamber saying, "It's going to be in," so... This time, please!

-Good morning, Sarah.

-Good morning! I really, really, really hope...

We have some very good news for you this morning.

-Is it in? Let me see.

-Well, let's have a look.

-It's in!

-There you go, there's your amendment.

-Oh, that's brilliant. Oh, that's absolutely brilliant.

-Perfect.

Oh, I'm beside myself with excitement. It's great.

It's finally in!

It is in print, it's actually going to happen.

I've made a change that's going to protect children better.

Once a Bill has been passed by the Commons,

it will be signed off by the Clerk.

Following the 700-year-old tradition,

he writes in Norman French, "Soit baille aux Seigneurs."

"Let it be sent to the Lords."

No Bill is going to become law until it is agreed upon

by the three parts of parliament,

so, the Lords and the Commons have to agree,

and the Queen agrees by giving it her royal assent.

But, obviously, there has to be an absolutely authentic

and authoritative copy that goes between the two Houses.

Tied up in green ribbon, the colour of the Commons,

the final Bill is physically walked along the corridor

to the House of Lords.

Good morning, gentlemen.

-Are our lordships ready to receive a message?

-I will find out for you.

Thank you very much, thank you very much.

Message for the Lords!

I always think that history should be our inspiration

and not our jailor.

I take it myself up to the bar of the House of Lords,

bow to my opposite number, hand the Bill over.

But, at the same time, the text of the Bill is on the shared drive

between the two public Bill Offices using some of the most advanced

text handling software in the world, so that combination of the old

and the traditional is a really good example of how they've got absolute

cutting edge technology but there is a picturesque side to it as well.

It's early July.

And today is almost the last session of Prime Minister's Questions

before the summer recess.

And Charlotte Leslie has won the Commons' lottery.

She's come top of the computer ballot

and so is guaranteed to ask David Cameron the first question.

You feel the first question there's more pressure on you to do

something that the Prime Minister would particularly want you to say.

First, she must select the best position

from which to ask her question.

I'm just deciding on my place. I've got a luxury choice of three here,

so I think I'm going to go for...

If you're right behind the Prime Minister it looks a bit weird,

when, if he turns right round to look at you, and so here I can

look at him, he can look at me but none of us are craning our necks.

Because I'm kicking off on the first question,

I've never done that before.

It's supposed to be quite national and big, but I've got

a really burning local issue that I need to talk about so I'm going

to try and weave in some grand national stuff into my local issue.

It's still breakfast time

and Charlotte Leslie knows that three hours from now

she'll become famous for five minutes.

I'm going to go down to the terrace cafe which does a nice porridge.

There's a tea room I could have breakfast in

but there are times when you don't always want to be surrounded by MPs.

And, you know what? I realise I've gone the wrong way.

I was so busy looking at my phone, I've gone the wrong way.

This happens a lot.

Getting my daily porridge.

I'm a bit apprehensive, I'm just anxious to get it right.

I'll probably get a few butterflies before I stand up,

you get a bit, "Whaa!", shaky just a few seconds before.

But I'm just quite anxious to get the words right

-and not to trip over it all. Morning.

-Morning.

It's just 14 minutes till the start of PMQs,

the best attended event of the Commons' week.

And MPs on both sides understand what it's like to be

top of the bill.

When you hear your name, you think,

"What was I going to start with again? I can't remember

"what I was going to start with!"

The pressure is immense. You have never felt that kind of pressure.

As an MP, when you stand up at Prime Minister's Questions

and every one of your colleagues from all sides of the House

is looking at you, and you know that this is the most viewed event

of Parliament's week.

The Prime Minister will be entering very, very shortly

and then we'll be kicking off.

Ah, here comes...a late member.

That's it, everything's done now, so what we're doing now

is just waiting for it to start.

-SPEAKER:

-Questions to the Prime Minister!

Questions to the Prime Minister!

Charlotte Leslie!

A key driver of our wealth and economic growth

has been investment in new commercial enterprises.

Does my right honourable friend agree that the speedy completion

of the Sainsbury's and Bristol Rovers deal is a key part

of Britain's fight back to prosperity not only in achieving

a new stadium for the South West but unleashing hundreds of jobs,

affordable housing, business growth and rail infrastructure plans,

and will he do all he can to hasten the completion

of this Sainsbury's deal?

-ALL:

-Hear, hear!

Well, having visited my honourable friend's constituency recently,

I know how passionately she feels about this important development.

Not only will this mean a new home for Bristol Rovers,

but it'll mean more jobs,

more growth and better infrastructure for Bristol.

It's how long you can keep going with little things

you want to mention before everyone goes berserk

and starts sort of chucking stuff at you metaphorically.

Erm...and, yeah, it's like many things.

You don't actually remember it very well,

but at the time you're just thinking, "Don't cock up, don't cock up, don't cock up."

The Clerk of the Commons, Sir Robert Rogers,

has come to appear like a permanent parliamentary fixture,

but he's suddenly stunned MPs by informing the Speaker

that he intends to retire early.

I have to inform the House that I have received

the following letter from the Clerk of the House.

"As Clerk of the House, I have been fortunate indeed to have

"the best job in the service of any parliament,

"indeed one of the best jobs in the world.

"I have spent much of my career seeking to make the House,

"and its work, and the work of its members better understood.

"This House is the precious centre of our parliamentary democracy,

"and with all my heart I wish it well.

"Yours sincerely, Robert Rogers."

-ALL:

-Hear, hear!

APPLAUSE

Applause in the House is extremely rare,

a break with centuries of tradition.

That was unparliamentary.

I think that Robert would not have approved,

so I just went, "Hear, hear" rather than applauding.

I think applause is a little bit modern for the

Chamber of the House of Commons.

It'll always echo in my ears. I think I shall never forget it.

The moment when the House just burst into applause,

and it went on and on, was really moving. Really moving.

This place is about hard politics,

but it's also about people and emotions.

And I don't think one should be too apologetic

about emotion occasionally.

Over the following weeks, a fierce battle will break out

as the Commons seeks to find a replacement for Sir Robert Rogers.

Pitted against each other are those who value its historic traditions,

and those who believe the Commons needs to be dragged

kicking and screaming into the 21st century.

In her Commons office,

the shoe loving Sarah Champion feels she's learning to work the system

at Westminster since her success in amending the Justice Bill.

When a report into child sex abuse in her Rotherham constituency

becomes big news in the summer, she decides to make use of

the parliamentary platform she has most despised - PMQs.

-Sarah Champion.

-Thank you, Mr Speaker.

The horrific, vile, and disgusting abuse suffered by children

in my constituency should never have been allowed to happen.

The victims have still not got the support they deserve

and the criminals are still on the streets.

So when will the Prime Minister appoint the Chair

to his enquiry into child abuse

so that no child will be let down by statutory agencies again?

-ALL:

-Hear, hear!

Really good, I really felt that the Prime Minister listened to

what I said. Yeah, I was really, really grateful that I got in

and could ask the question.

SHE SIGHS

Well spoken, that was very good.

Thank you ever so much, I appreciate your response as well.

Next time.

What really goes on behind the scenes

at the state opening of parliament.

The Coronation damask, lovely.

And we discover some unlikely alliances across the House.

Talk to a Tory? No, I've never spoke to a Tory in me life.

And we show just how far some MPs will go in the call of duty.

To find out more about this series, go to...

..and follow the links to the Open University.